My wife and I play Spades every couple of weeks with my brother Jim and his wife Donna. My brother and I are hoping to lure the women into playing Bridge, but haven't quite made the case for switching. I've created this web page to store the bidding chart we've come up with along with any house rules we've agreed to play with.
The following is the bidding chart we landed upon after using some others we found on the web. We decided to stick with halves as the smallest unit, although we'd seen charts with quarters.
In the tables below, "x" refers to any card within the suit, while a letter refers to the obvious face card.
| Distribution | Value |
| A | 1 | Kx | 1* |
*: If the number of cards in this suit is six or greater, reduce value to 1/2. This is done because of the greater chance of other players being short in that suit.
| Distribution | Value |
| Void | 1 1/2 |
| Singleton | 1 |
| Doubleton | 1/2 |
Note: For each non-trump short suit in your hand, reduce the total points from your spades distribution by 1. For example, if you have a singleton in diamonds and your spades distribution is Kx, you can't count both the singleton and the Kx as 1 point. The extra spade will either cover the King, or it will be used to trump a hand played in your singleton's suit. Also, you may not count the points for Short Suits if you do not have the spades to cover them.
| Distribution | Value |
| A | 1 | K | 1/2 | Kx | 1 |
| Qxx | 1 |
| AQ | 1 1/2 |
| AQx | 2 |
| 4th Spade | 1 |
| 5th Spade | 1/2 |
| 6th Spade | 1 |
| 7th Spade | 1/2 |
| 8th Spade | 1 |
| 9th Spade | 1/2 |
The next four hands were all dealt on the same deal. After examining each hand, we'll take a look at the total points count for all hands. Since there are 13 tricks, an accurate bidding chart should generate a total of 13 points.
| Suit | Cards | Value |
| Spades | K Q 7 6 3 | 3 (5th spade covers doubleton) |
| Hearts | K Q 6 | 1 |
| Clubs | 7 4 | 1/2 |
| Diamonds | A Q 6 | 1 |
Discussion - This hand has a healthy number of spades, for a total of 3 1/2 points. We remove one of the spades to cover the doubleton, for a total of 3 points from spades. We have 2 points from non-trump cards and 1/2 point from the doubleton in clubs. This hand's total worth is 5 1/2 points.
| Suit | Cards | Value |
| Spades | A J 4 | 1 |
| Hearts | 9 7 3 2 | 0 |
| Clubs | A 3 | 1 1/2 |
| Diamonds | K 9 8 2 | 1 |
Discussion - We should expect to take 3 tricks with this hand. Two should be taken with the aces and the king of diamonds should be made good given that it is covered. Total points from hand: 3 1/2.
| Suit | Cards | Value |
| Spades | 8 2 | 0 |
| Hearts | A 8 4 | 1 |
| Clubs | K 10 8 6 5 | 1 |
| Diamonds | 10 7 5 | 0 |
Discussion - This hand provides 2 points. We should be careful about the king of clubs. In the bidding chart, we reduce the value of a king to 1/2 point when we have six or more cards of that suit. Although we only have 5 cards, we should be concerned with the possibility of a short suit in another's hand.
North and South should bid 7. Remember that we can only bid round numbers and should truncate any fractions, the combined total of 7 1/2 becomes 7.
| Suit | Cards | Value |
| Spades | 10 9 5 | 0 |
| Hearts | J 10 5 | 0 |
| Clubs | Q J 9 2 | 0 |
| Diamonds | J 4 3 | 0 |
Discussion - This hand provides no points to the player. The next question is: Should we bid NIL with this hand? Yes. We have 3 or less spades - none of them winners - and we have low cards in every suit. Although our partner does not have an incredible hand, we can expect some support from him. We should also keep our eye on the clubs, as after the 2 is played we will be left with three medium to high value cards.
East bids 3 on their own and West bids NIL.
Adding up the point total from each of the four hands, we get 11 points, 2 points short of the 13 points in the deal. We should note a couple of issues with this deal which may have caused this discrepancy:
I have decided to add a second sample hand, less evenly distributed than the previous example.
| Suit | Cards | Value |
| Spades | A 5 4 | 1 |
| Hearts | A 9 8 2 | 1 |
| Clubs | Q 9 7 2 | 0 |
| Diamonds | 4 2 | 1/2 |
Discussion - This hand has two aces, worth 2 points. The doubleton in diamonds is covered by a spade and is worth 1/2 point. This hand's total worth is 2 1/2 points.
| Suit | Cards | Value |
| Spades | Q J 9 7 3 | 1 |
| Hearts | K 6 5 4 | 1 |
| Clubs | 6 | 1 |
| Diamonds | A 3 | 1 1/2 |
Discussion - The queen of spades is worth a single point as it is covered by two other spades. The fourth and fifth spades are used to cover the singleton in clubs and the doubleton in diamonds. The total worth of this hand is 4 1/2 points.
| Suit | Cards | Value |
| Spades | 10 8 | 0 |
| Hearts | Q 3 | 1/2 |
| Clubs | A J 5 4 | 1 |
| Diamonds | J 10 8 6 5 | 0 |
Discussion - This weak hand contains 1 1/2 points. One from the ace of clubs and one-half from the doubleton in hearts. A NIL bid should not be attempted with this hand, as the spades distribution contains no low cards. The value of this hand is 1 1/2 points. North and South combined have a total of 4 points.
| Suit | Cards | Value |
| Spades | K 6 2 | 1 |
| Hearts | J 10 | 1/2 |
| Clubs | K 10 8 3 | 1 |
| Diamonds | K Q 9 7 | 1 |
Discussion - This hand has three covered kings, worth 3 points. The extra spade covers the doubleton in hearts, for 1/2 point. The hand provides 3 1/2 points. East and West have 8 points combined.
Adding up the point total from each of the four hands, we get 12 points, 1 point short of the 13 points in the deal. The remaining point may come from one of the short suits in the deal.
When a team bids ten and makes it, they gain 200 points rather than 100.
Rather than having each team discuss what they're going to bid, each person bids a whole number independently, starting with the player to the left of the dealer. The team's bid is the sum of these two bids.
A player may bid nil only during his normal turn to bid.
A player must state his intention to bid blind nil prior to the start of bidding. The exchange of two cards by the player bidding blind nil also occurs prior to bidding.
If a player reneges, i.e. does not follow suit when they are able, they are allowed to lift the card and correct the renege prior to anyone else playing a card. If a renege is discovered, play continues as normal and, at the conclusion of the hand, the team that reneged looses three tricks and the other team gains three tricks. These three tricks do not contribute to overbooks, however.
Ace's Spades Page - Covers the rules of Spades as well as tips and strategy.
Loflyer's Spades Page - Comprehensive discussion of bidding and play. Good tips for playing with and against a NIL.
Spades Tips from Lamb - Tips on bidding, NIL bidding and basic rules for play.